Norman Virus Control (Anti-virus group test) - AV/Email/messaging security product reviews

Product Details

Norman Virus Control

This Product Review is in the following Category:
AV/Email/messaging security

This Product Review is in the following Sub-category:
Email Content Management/Filtering

	Version:	5.6
	Vendor:	Norman
	Website:	www.norman.com
	Price:	£11.50/user for 100 users
	Date:	1-Jan-04
	Author:	Jon Tullett

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Norman delivered quick and efficient performance, with acceptable, but unexceptional, reporting. Installation required Norman Virus Control to be installed first, for the AV engine. No reboot was required and, if anything, a surprising lack of feedback resulted - the software just quietly went to work with the default server configuration.

The desktop component might have a performance impact on your server, but as a default safety net it's not a bad thing. We disabled desktop scanning during the test.

The test itself ran very quickly, with mail delivery completed in a speedy 47 minutes, only just behind CA's, but much faster than that product in processing, just 110 minutes compared to more than 180. And the efficiency score was top of the table: only 4,100 unscanned messages, which were duly scanned during delivery.

Configuration is thorough, although the interface is a little clunky and warning messages can be completely customized with a range of variables, all well-documented. By default, the warning messages contain not only the virus details, but also the ID of the quarantined file, enabling easy release of false-positives. After testing, only a single file was to be found quarantined: the software had kept only one copy of files seen to be identical, which is a very useful feature during a heavy outbreak.

If only the system log had been treated so kindly: Norman filled it up with alerts quickly, at which point other applications could no longer use it.

Logging is not special: entries can be exported as a text file (but not a spreadsheet-friendly one) or a proprietary .nps file which can be reopened using the Norman viewer for later analysis.

Strangely, Norman has neglected to associate the file-type with the viewer in the Windows Explorer. The viewer has limited abilities to search, but the interface shows ongoing statistics in a status view.

Overall, the product's performance might outweigh its lackluster reporting, and the customizable alerting is a definite plus.

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